On Friday the 1st of July, a few selected master students Product Development presented their master thesis to a broad public. For the 5th year in a row, Verhaert awarded the ‘Paul Verhaert Award 2016’ to the most innovative product. Jeroen van Winckel was this year’s lucky winner.
Master Product Development
At the University of Antwerp every academic year is closed with a presentation from the master students Product Development. A jury selects 5 students who may present their master thesis to a broad public consisting of fellow students, alumni, supervisors, stakeholders, friends and family. The selection criteria are the inherent quality of the master thesis, the innovative added value of the product or service and the way it distinguishes itself from the others.
ModulAir
Every generation has the responsibility to preserve art treasures throughout the centuries, so the next generations can keep enjoying these. The changing climate conditions make that we need to pay special attention to the environment in which the art collections are kept.
Until now, only temperature and humidity measurements have been performed, but recent scientific developments have shown that more factors play an important part in the degradation process of art.
The product ModulAir, developed in cooperation with the scientific team Airchecq, anticipates to these current scientific developments. It is an air and climate measuring device that can measure several environmental parameters. Because it is a modular device the museum can determine itself which parameters it finds interesting. That way, customized instruments can be offered to the clients.
The 6 different modules are illustrated in figure 1. Every module focuses on another environmental aspect. Because such extensive measurements have not been done before, and the know-how of museums is not yet big enough, Airchecq will offer a full service, not only offering measuring instruments, but also providing knowledge about the measured data.
ModulAir focuses on use in museums, making the product perfectly adjusted to their requirements and demands. ModulAir is a scientific, compact, reliable, user friendly, reasonably priced and modular device.
Service Contract
To stimulate this new measuring technique, we have Airchecq taking care of all practicalities. Furthermore, we don’t not want the high investment cost to be the threshold as to whether or not to buy the device. Therefore, we work with service contracts: a non-recurring entry cost is paid for the selected measuring device. This entry cost will act as the production cost price for the company. Airchecq will then request a monthly contribution based on the amount of modules in the leasing device.
These service contracts include delivery, assembly, maintenance, calibration, … so the clients will not be confronted with any unexpected additional costs. This monthly contribution also includes customized service reports as well as permanent access to the online platform containing all data.
We wish Jeroen good luck in his further career.
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